Report: NFL implements new procedures for measuring game balls
By Ryan Wilson | CBSSports.com
How long commissioner Roger Goodell will wait to rule on
Tom Brady's Deflategate appeal is anyone's guess, but the NFL has a plan in place for how game balls will be prepared and monitored during the 2015 season, writes FOXSports analyst and former VP of officials Mike Pereira.
A summary of the changes include:
- Each team will supply 24 footballs -- 12 primary and 12 backup -- two hours and 15 minutes before kickoff. Previously, the home team provided 24 balls while visitors only had to provide 12.
- Two members of the officiating crew, as designated by the referee, will inspect the footballs to make sure they meet specifications. Previously, that job belonged to the referee.
- For the first time, records will be kept of footballs' pre-kickoff PSI measurements.
- Footballs that fall within the acceptable PSI range (12.5-13.5 PSI) will be approved for game play. Those falling outside the range will either be inflated or deflated to 13.0 PSI.
More from Pereira:
Each NFL game last season had kicking ball coordinator, hired by the league, who has been primarily responsible for the six kicking balls. They will now take custody of all the balls once they've been approved until 10 minutes prior to kickoff.
At that point, the kicking ball coordinator, along with a member of the officiating crew and a security representative, will bring the footballs to the on-field replay station. Upon arrival, the game balls will be distributed to each team's ball crew in the presence of the league security representative. The backup balls will remain secured in the officials' locker room until needed.
Last season, the league's security representative was not a part of the total process and the kicking ball coordinator was not specifically assigned to be with the footballs the entire time.
Pereira calls the new procedures an overreaction but adds, "I think the league has a tendency to do that."
(This is where Brady and the
Patriots nod their heads knowingly.)
"Checking the balls before the game and after the game would have been enough for me," Pereira continues. "The officials have approximately only six minutes in their locker room at halftime as it is. By the time they get off the field and then have to leave to notify the teams with a two-minute warning to get back on the field, that leaves them hardly enough time to catch their breaths."
Meanwhile, we wait for Roger to make a decision.
